"... willingness to take a moral stand, to accept risk and ridicule, [is] the cost of the moral life." -- Chris Hedges
Mensch kann tun was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will -- Schopenhauer. (One can choose what to do, but not what to want.)

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Monday, January 4, 2010

Status Update

J and I are working on a new story. We're in our best work mode -- she does characters, plotting, dialog, I flesh out narrative detail, structure, and extra brainstorming when needed. It's interesting so far and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes, as the eventual length is still undetermined.

Our friend/cousin F just moved in. We're enjoying having him here. He seems to like it as well.

Since 8:00 am, the house has been full of contractors winterizing. It was -15 when they arrived. Four guys filling up the empty spaces in the walls with insulation, and so far one of them has almost fallen through the laundry room ceiling and they misplaced the clipboard with the work order on it. They seem to be a fun group of guys, but I may start drinking as soon as they leave. The cat is trippin' as he's spending the day in the bathroom.

School started for Bucky today, mine starts next week. The house would seem empty without him -- except, of course, for the contractors. Kinda glad he's out of the house today as I am not sure how he would deal.

Ready to go back to school, see if I can pull it off 2 semesters in a row. I need to get my application for State in this week. I am putting it off because I'm a bit intimidated -- not by the school, but by the application itself, as it's aimed at high school students, not at guys in their 40's trying to make the most of a second chance.

Trying to see if I can get a job at F's place as a popcorn slinger. Little or no money in it, but better than the big fat nothing I'm looking at when unemplyment runs out. I have no idea how much unemployment I have left -- about 6 weeks worth if I don't get another extention, but I don't know what the dates are and if I even qualify. Afraid to look. Procrastination as a talisman, if I ignore it maybe it won't go away.

I'm thinking about conceding the sprouts game I have going -- I am sure that I will lose at this point, and better to go out with my dignity intact.

I've been playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Very good game, lush well-realized world. This is the game that Divine Divinity was trying to be. The character leveling system is interesting, especially the way that dungeons are set up to always be close to your level, so there's no "Oh, I'll just go knock over an easy one for supplies". If it was hard at level 3, it's going to be harder at level 13. One thing it seems to lack, fortunately, is the incessant "get this to give to this person so they will give you that so you can take it to them..." booooring quests, the kind that killed Zelda: Mask Of Majora and Baldur's Gate. So far the quests I have done have been rescuing people, recovering artifacts from deep and scattered dungeons, stalking NPCs, and combat missions. I've been able to spend about 2/3 of the game time dungeon diving and the other third wandering around talking to people, picking plants for alchemy, and exploring the world to find the dungeons. There's an Unofficial Elder Scrolls Wiki that has a lot of good information and organized in a way that lets me find out important info (like, for example, which dungeons are NOT related to the main quest so I can safely delve without risking messing up something I may need later) without being spoilers. Knowing that Devastated Mine is full of bandits or that Caerbannog Cave is home to the Black Beast before going in is something I could have conceivably learned if I was actually living in this world, but I don't look at the maps to find treasure chest locations etc. Also, the game itself is perfectly named, for it is Oblivion, mental rest and recharge before next week when I'll be learning Oral Communications, Psychology of Women, Comparative World Religions, Diversity and Social Justice, Critical Thinking, and American Literature About War. Guess which two I think I don't really need to take? I'll have to watch that and make sure I don't slack off on them, as it would suck to ruin my GPA out of arrogance and laziness -- been there, done that.

I have sworn off all FaceBook game applications. No more Mafia Wars, FarmVille, or Vampire Wars. They are too little fun for the amount of time they consume. I quit FarmVille some time ago, when it started to be too much work for no reward of any kind -- I suppose that does make it an accurate simulation of real farming...